TransactionExpiredBlockheightExceededError after trying everything

Hello. I’m pretty new to trading crypto and automating it. So i’ve reached a point where im trying to buy but keep getting hit with this error

TransactionExpiredBlockheightExceededError

Now i know there’s probably a thousand posts on this, however, I used different rpc endpoints ; Quicknode, Helius, and Alchemy. I fetch the latest blockhash before sending the transaction but it still hits me with the same error. Alchemy returns a “consider upgrading plan” message, so i was thinking, do i really need to upgrade to a paid plan to trade on mainnet? Is it even doable to trade on a free api? I still haven’t got a single transaction through with the free api’s so just wondering. Thanks!